Federal Education Minister
Christopher Pyne
has ruled out using minimum university entry scores for school leavers to maintain standards in higher education, putting him at odds with the NSW government.

Although Mr Pyne has said maintaining quality and standards are his key concern in higher education, he rejected NSW’s move to set an entrance standard for school leavers entering teaching courses.

Others have also called for minimum entrance standards, including the elite Group of Eight universities which, earlier this year, called for (and later backed away from) a minimum Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 60 to be imposed for school leavers going to university.

In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Mr Pyne said: “I don’t support minimum ATAR scores. I think it’s a rude instrument because about 50 per cent of people who go to teaching courses, for example, don’t get in on the basis of their ATAR score in any event.

“ATAR scores are a reflection of the demand for a course; they are not a reflection of the difficulty of the course."

In order to improve the quality of trainee teachers, the NSW government has introduced minimum standards of achievement in the Higher School Certificate exam which students must reach if they want to be registered to teach in the state. Mr Pyne said it was a matter for the NSW government.

Unis oppose planned review

Meanwhile, universities have hit back at Mr Pyne’s plan to review Labor’s demand-driven model for higher education, which removed caps on enrolment and has resulted in 150,000 more students going to universities in the past six years.

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Mr Pyne said on Tuesday he would examine whether the influx of large numbers of students was compromising higher education quality.

“If one of the features of the demand-driven system has been a reduction in quality . . . then that’s something we need to address. So I’ll be seeking advice from experts about the issues surrounding the demand-driven student model," he told the Financial Review.

But the university peak body Universities Australia (UA) said it had not been consulted by Mr Pyne about his plan. “We’ve had no discussion with the Minister. I’m a little surprised to read about it in the media," said UA chief executive
Belinda Robinson.

“They [the Coalition] made a strong statement saying they had no plans to restore the caps or reverse the demand-driven system."

The Regional Universities Network (RUN), representing universities in regional areas, on Wednesday strongly defended the demand-driven enrolment system, saying that it had been crucial in increasing student numbers in higher education in regional Australia.

Acting Labor leader
Chris Bowen
accused the Coalition of breaking its promise not to wind back the demand-driven system. He also rejected the idea that taking more students lessened quality. “What the government is trying to do here is to set up an excuse to cut university funding," he told reporters in Sydney.